Tim Curry’s Pennywise Makes a Split-Second Cameo in the New ‘It’ Trailer

Just yesterday, we noted the release of a new trailer for the upcoming re-adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal killer-clown novel It. Things seemed pretty normal, at first brush: Terrified kids, children’s entertainer straight out of your worst nightmares, eerie red balloon, the whole nine yards. But sharp-eyed viewers noted a little Easter egg squirreled away for a split-second in one shot near the end of the trailer. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it, “it” referring in this instance to “It.”

In a quick snippet of footage at the tail end of the trailer, the homicidal Pagliacci known as Pennywise (played in the new iteration by Bill Skarsgard) charges the camera with razor-teeth bared. Tucked into the corner of that shot is a doll that It devotees may recognize. It’s none other than the original Pennywise, identifiable by his fluffy bright red Afro.

The Tim Curry-played villain from the 1990 miniseries similarly feasted upon the supple flesh of innocent youths, and while the new film’s director Andrés Muschietti has stated that he wants his film to be its own distinct entity, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to nod to those who came before.

The trailer’s little Easter egg could result in a sort of infinite feedback loop of It remakes, where the new version they inevitably make twenty years down the road includes a little doll of Skarsgard’s version of Pennwise, and so on and so forth. That’d be a fun factoid to bring up at cocktail parties. It tears into theaters on September 8, instilling the deep fear of clowns in a whole new generation.